Resumen

DANGLES, Olivier; MENESES, Rosa Isela  y  ANTHELME, Fabien. BIOTHAW: A multidisciplinary project proposing a methodological framework for the study of high-Andean wetlands in the context of climate change. Ecología en Bolivia [online]. 2014, vol.49, n.3, pp.6-13. ISSN 1605-2528.

While tropical mountains are one of the most threatened biomes of the world, there is a lack of basic and applied research examining the effects and linkages of global change with mountain tropical biodiversity and services. Green islands in an arid mountainous environment, tropical high Andean wetlands (THAW) or bofedales, concentrate high levels of biodiversity and associated services (e.g., carbon storage, water regulation, and livestock production) for hundreds of thousands of people. These fragile social-ecological systems are threatened by the rapid melting of glaciers on which they tightly depend. The BIOTHAW "Modeling BIOdiversity and land use interactions under changing glacial water availability in Tropical High Andean Wetlands" project aims to develop a modeling framework setting up scenarios of biodiversity-land use interactions as a result of global change-induced modifications. This framework will integrate three components: 1) glacier changes and water run-off inputs to wetlands, 2) wetland biodiversity, including both plant and animal communities, and 3) land management practices (land use patterns, land ownership structures and dynamics for livestock production). Fed with both climate and socioeconomical scenarios, our models, combined with distribution mapping of Bolivian wetlands from satellite observations, will allow building scenarios of the future of THAW biodiversity and services and define priority conservation areas.

Palabras clave : Biodiversity; Cordillera Real; Glacier melting; Socio-ecosystems; Wetlands.

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